Technological advances have increased the demand for advanced materials processed with strict tolerances on processing parameters. In particular, the development of new products, such as products with miniaturized components, have created a demand for many types of new materials, especially advanced inorganic materials, for use in advanced processing methods. To meet some of these demands, a variety of chemical powders can be used in many different processing contexts. Specifically, there is considerable interest in the application of ultrafine powders that are particularly advantageous for a variety of applications involving small structures or high surface area materials. This demand for ultrafine chemical powders has resulted in the development of sophisticated techniques, such as laser pyrolysis, for the production of these powders.
Ceramic powders, especially powders including metal or silicon compounds, are of interest for a range of different applications. For example, chemical powders can be used in the production of electronic devices, such as batteries, catalysts, resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors, and optical devices, such as wave guides, optical switches and nonlinear optical devices. Other specific electronic devices include electronic displays, which often use phosphor material that emit visible light in response to interaction with electrons. Similarly, ceramic powders can be useful in the production of coatings within microelectronic devices or coatings for electromagnetic shielding. The use of chemical powders for various applications requires specific processing approaches in order to place the powders in a suitable form for the application. For many of these applications ultrafine powders can be used advantageously.
The performance of the powders in the respective applications generally depend on one or more of 1) chemical composition, 2) crystalline phase, 3) surface properties, 4) average particle size and 5) particle size distribution. For example, major functional attributes of electroactive compounds in a lithium ion battery cathode that depend on the electroactive particle properties may include, for example, voltage profile, charge and discharge capacity, charge and discharge rate, and power capability.
Rapid material synthesis or combinatorial approaches have found success in the area of organic compound evaluation. These techniques have been used for drug design. Generalization of combinatorial techniques have resulted in solid state reaction methods for producing small quantities of inorganic materials for evaluation.